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WHAT  IS  PEESBYTEEIANISM? 


AN    ADDRESS 


DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  HISTORICAL 
SOCIETY  AT  THEIR  ANNIVERSARY  MEETING 
IN  PHILADELPHIA,  ON  TUESDAY 
EVENING,  MAY  1, 1855, 


KEV.  CHAELES  HODGE,  D.  D. 
M 


PHILADELPHIA: 

PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION, 
NO.  265  CHESTNUT  STREET. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1855,  by 

A.  W.  MITCHELL,  M.D. 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for 
the  Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 

STEREOTYPED  BY  J.  FAGAX. 


WHAT  IS  PRESBYTERIANISM? 


BRETHREN: — We  are  assembled  this 
evening  as  a  Presbyterian  Historical 
Society.  It  has  occurred  to  me  that  it 
would  not  be  inappropriate  to  discuss 
the  question.  What  is  Presbyterianism? 
You  will  not  expect  from  me  an  ora 
tion.  My  object  is  neither  conviction 
nor  persuasion ;  but  exposition.  I  pro 
pose  to  occupy  the  hours  devoted  to  this 
address  in  an  attempt  to  unfold  the 
principles  of  that  system  of  Church 
polity  which  we,  as  Presbyterians,  held 
to  be  laid  down  in  the  word  of  God.' 

Setting    aside    Erastianism,    which 

teaches  that  the  Church  is  only  one 

form   of  the   State;    and   Quakerism, 

which  does  not  provide  for  the  external 

(3) 


4  WHAT  IS   PRESBYTERIANISM  ? 

organization  of  the  Church,  there  are 
only  four  radically  different  theories  on 
the  subject  of  Church  Polity. 

1.  The  Popish  theory,  which  assumes 
that  Christ,  the  Apostles  and  believers, 
constituted  the  Church  while  our  Sa 
viour  was  on  earth,  and  this  organiza 
tion  was  designed  to  be  perpetual. 
After  the  ascension  of  our  Lord,  Peter 
became  his  Vicar,  and  took  his  place  as 
the  visible  head  of  the  Church.  This 
primacy  of  Peter,  as  the  universal 
Bishop,  is  continued  in  his  successors, 
the  Bishops  of  Eome ;  and  the  apostle- 
ship  is  perpetuated  in  the  order  of  Pre 
lates.  As  in  the  Primitive  Church,  no 
one  could  be  an  apostle  who  was  not 
subject  to  Christ,  so  now  no  one  can  be 
a  Prelate  wrho  is  not  subject  to  the 
Pope.  And  as  then  no  one  could  be  a 
Christian  who  was  not  subject  to  Christ 
and  the  apostles,  so  now  no  one  can  be 


WHAT   IS   PRESBYTEBIAN1SM?  5 

a  Christian  who  is  not  subject  to  the 
Pope  and  the  Prelates.  This  is  the 
Eomish  theory  of  the  Church.  A  Vicar 
of  Christ,  a  perpetual  College  of  apos 
tles,  and  the  people  subject  to  their  in 
fallible  control. 

2.  The  Prelatical  theory  assumes  the 
perpetuity  of  the  apostleship  as  the  go 
verning  power  in   the  Church,  which 
therefore  consists  of  those  who  profess 
the  true  religion,  and  are  subject  to  apos 
tle-bishops.     This  is  the  Anglican   or 
High-Church  form  of  this  theory.     In 
its    Low-Church   form,   the   Prelatical 
theory  simply  teaches  that  there  was 
originally  a  three-fold  order  in  the  min 
istry,  and  that  there  should   be  now. 
But  it  does  not  affirm  that  mode  of  or 
ganization  to  be  essential. 

3.  The   Independent    or   Congrega 
tional  theory  includes  two  principles; 

first,  that  the  governing  and  executive 
1* 


6  WHAT  IS   PRESBYTERIANISM? 

power  in  the  Church  is  in  the  brother 
hood  ;  and  secondly,  that  the  Church 
organization  is  complete  in  each  wor 
shipping  assembly,  which  is  independent 
of  every  other. 

4.  The  fourth  theory  is  the  Presbyte 
rian,  which  it  is  our  present  business  to 
attempt  to  unfold.  The  three  great  ne 
gations  of  Presbyterianism — that  is,  the 
three  great  errors  which  it  denies  are — 
1.  That  all  church  power  vests  in  the 
clergy.  2.  That  the  apostolic  office  is 
perpetual.  3.  That  each  individual 
Christian  congregation  is  independent. 
The  affirmative  statement  of  these  prin 
ciples  is — 1.  That  the  people  have  a 
right  to  a  substantive  part  in  the  go 
vernment  of  the  Church.  2.  That 
presbyters,  who  minister  in  word  and 
doctrine,  are  the  highest  government 
officers  of  the  Church,  and  all  belong  to 
the  same  order.  3.  That  the  outward 


WHAT  IS   PRESBYTERIANISM?  7 

and  visible  Church  is,  or  should  be, 
one,  in  the  sense  that  a  smaller  part  is 
subject  to  a  larger,  and  a  larger  to  the 
whole.  It  is  not  holding  one  of  these 
principles  that  makes  a  man  a  Presby 
terian,  but  his  holding  them  all. 

I.  The  first  of  these  principles  re 
lates  to  the  power  and  rights  of  the 
people.  As  to  the  nature  of  Church 
power,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the 
Church  is  a  theocracy.  Jesus  Christ  is 
its  head.  All  power  is  derived  from 
him.  His  word  is  our  written  constitu 
tion.  All  Church  power  is,  therefore, 
properly  ministerial  and  administrative. 
Everything  is  to  be  done  in  the  name 
of  Christ,  and  in  accordance  with  his 
directions.  The  Church,  however,  is  a 
self-governing  society,  distinct  from  the 
State,  having  its  officers  and  laws,  and, 
therefore,  an  administrative  govern 
ment  of  its  own.  The  power  of  the 


8  WHAT  IS  PRESBYTERIANISM? 

Church  relates,  1.  To  matters  of  doc 
trine.  She  has  the  right  to  set  forth  a 
public  declaration  of  the  truths  which 
she  believes,  and  which  are  to  be  ac 
knowledged  by  all  who  enter  her  com 
munion.  That  is,  she  has  the  right  to 
frame  creeds  or  confessions  of  faith,  as 
her  testimony  for  the  truth,  and  her 
protest  against  error.  And  as  she  has 
been  commissioned  to  teach  all  nations, 
she  has  the  right  of  selecting  teachers, 
of  judging  of  their  fitness,  of  ordaining 
and  sending  them  forth  into  the  field, 
and  of  recalling  and  deposing  them 
when  unfaithful.  2.  The  Church  has 
power  to  set  down  rules  for  the  order 
ing  of  public  worship.  3.  She  has 
power  to  make  rules  for  her  own  go 
vernment;  such  as  every  Church  has 
in  its  Book  of  Discipline,  Constitution, 
or  Canons,  &c.  4.  She  has  power  to 
receive  into  fellowship,  and  to  exclude 


WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM?  9 

the  unworthy  from  her  own  commu 
nion. 

Now,  the  question  is,  Where  does 
this  power  vest?  Does  it,  as  Roman 
ists  and  Prelatists  affirm,  belong  exclu 
sively  to  the  clergy  ?  Have  they  the 
right  to  determine  for  the  Church  what 
she  is  to  believe,  what  she  is  to  profess, 
what  she  is  to  do,  and  whom  she  is  to 
receive  as  members,  and  whom  she  is  to 
reject?  Or  does  this  power  vest  in  the 
Church  itself — that  is,  in  the  whole 
body  of  the  faithful?  This,  it  will  be 
perceived,  is  a  radical  question — one 
which  touches  the  essence  of  things,  and 
determines  the  destiny  of  men.  If  all 
Church  power  vests  in  the  clergy,  then 
the  people  are  practically  bound  to  pas 
sive  obedience  in  all  matters  of  faith 
and  practice;  for  all  right  of  private 
judgment  is  then  denied.  If  it  vests  in 
the  wrhole  Church,  then  the  people  have 


10         WHAT   IS   PRESBTTEEIANISM  ? 

a  right  to  a  substantive  part  in  the  de 
cision  of  all  questions  relating  to  doc 
trine,  worship,  order,  and  discipline. 
The  public  assertion  of  this  right  of  the 
people,  at  the  time  of  the  Eeformation, 
roused  all  Europe.  It  was  an  apocar 
lyptic  trumpet,  i.  e.  a  trumpet  of  reve 
lation,  tula  per  sepidchra  sonans,  calling 
dead  souls  to  life ;  awakening  them  to 
the  consciousness  of  power  and  of  right; 
of  power  conveying  right,  and  imposing 
the  obligation  to  assert  and  exercise  it. 
This  was  the  end  of  Church  tyranny  in 
all  truly  Protestant  countries.  It  was 
the  end  of  the  theory  that  the  people 
were  bound  to  passive  submission  in 
matters  of  faith  and  practice.  It  was 
deliverance  to  the  captive,  the  opening 
of  the  prison  to  those  who  were  bound ; 
the  introduction  of  the  people  of  God 
into  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  has 
made  them  free.  This  is  the  reason 


WHAT   IS   PRESETTED ANISM  ?         11 

why  civil  liberty  follows  religious 'lib 
erty.  The  theory  that  all  Church 
power  vests  in  a  divinely  constituted 
hierarchy,  begets  the  theory  that  all 
civil  power  vests,  of  divine  right,  in 
kings  and  nobles.  And  the  theory  that 
Church  power  vests  in  the  Church 
itself,  and  all  Church  officers  are  ser 
vants  of  the  Church,  of  necessity  begets 
the  theory  that  civil  power  vests  in  the 
people,  and  that  civil  magistrates  are 
servants  of  the  people.  These  theories 
God  has  joined  together,  arid  no  man 
can  put  them  asunder.  It  was,  there 
fore,  by  an  infallible  instinct,  the  unfor 
tunate  Charles  of  England  said,  "No 
bishop,  no  king ;"  by  which  he  meant, 
that  if  there  is  no  despotic  power  in  the 
Church,  there  can  be  no  despotic  power 
in  the  State ;  or,  if  there  be  liberty  in 
the  Church,  there  will  be  liberty  in  the 
State. 


12         WHAT  IS  PRESBYTERIANISM  ? 

But  this  great  Protestant  and  Pres 
byterian  principle  is  not  only  a  principle 
of  liberty,  it  is  also  a  principle  of  order. 
1st.  Because  this  power  of  the  people 
is  subject  to  the  infallible  authority  of 
the  word ;  and  2d.  Because  the  exer 
cise  of  it  is  in  the  bands  of  duly  consti 
tuted  officers.  Prcsbyterianism  does 
not  dissolve  the  bands  of  authority,  and 
resolve  the  Church  into  a  mob.  Though 
delivered  from  the  autocratic  authority 
of  the  hierarchy,  it  remains  under  the 
law  to  Christ.  It  is  restricted  in  the 
exercise  of  its  power  by  the  word  of 
God,  which  bends  the  reason,  heart,  and 
conscience.  We  only  cease  to  be  the 
servants  of  men,  that  we  may  be  the 
servants  of  God.  We  are  raised  into  a 
higher  sphere,  where  perfect  liberty  is 
merged  in  absolute  subjection.  As  the 
Church  is  the  aggregate  of  believers, 
there  is  an  intimate  analogy  between 


WHAT   IS   PRESBTTERIANISM  ?         13 

the  experience  of  the  individual  be 
liever,  and  of  the  Church  as  a  whole. 
The  believer  ceases  to  be  the  servant 
of  sin,  that  he  may  be  the  servant  of 
righteousness ;  he  is  redeemed  from  the 
law,  that  he  may  be  the  servant  of 
Christ.  So  the  Church  is  delivered 
from  an  illegitimate  authority,  not  that 
she  may  be  lawless,  but  subject  to  an 
authority  legitimate  and  divine.  The 
Eeformers,  therefore,  as  instruments  in 
the  hands  of  God,  in  delivering  the 
Church  from  bondage  to  prelates,  did 
not  make  it  a  tumultuous  multitude,  in 
which  every  man  was  a  law  to  himself, 
free  to  believe,  and  free  to  do  what  he 
pleased.  The  Church,  in  all  the  exer 
cise  of  her  power,  in  reference  either  to 
doctrine  or  discipline,  acts  under  the 
written  law  of  God,  as  recorded  in  his 
word. 

But  besides  this,  the  power  of  the 
2 


14         WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM  ? 

Church  is  not  only  thus  limited  and 
guided  by  the  Scriptures,  but  the  exer 
cise  of  it  is  in  the  hands  of  legitimate 
officers.     The  Church  is  not  a  vast  de 
mocracy,  where  everything  is  decided 
by  the  popular  voice.    "  God  is  not  the 
author  of  confusion,  but  of  peace,  (i.  e. 
of  order)    as   in    all   churches   of  the 
saints."     The  Westminster  Confession, 
therefore,  expressing  the  common  sen 
timent  of  Presbyterians,  says:  —  "The 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  King  and  Head 
of  his  Church,  hath  therein  appointed  a 
government  in   the  hands   of  Church 
officers,  distinct  from  the  civil  magis 
trate."   \  The   doctrine   that    all   civil 
power  vests  ultimately  in  the  people,  is 
not  inconsistent  with  the  doctrine  that 
that  power  is  in  the  hands  of  legitimate 
officers,  legislative,  judicial,  and  execu 
tive,  to  be  exercised  by  them  according 
to  law.     Nor  is  it  inconsistent  with  the 


WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM  ?         15 

doctrine  that  the  authority  of  the  civil 
magistrate  is  jure  dicino.  So  the  doc 
trine  that  Church  power  vests  in  the 
Church  itself,  is  not  inconsistent  with 
the  doctrine  that  there  is  a  divinely 
appointed  class  of  officers,  through  whom 
that  power  is  to  be  exercised.  It  thus 
appears  that  the  principle  of  liberty 
and  the  principle  of  order  are  perfectly 
harmonious.  In  denying  that  all  Church 
power  vests  exclusively  in  the  clergy, 
whom  the  people  have  nothing  to  do 
but  to  believe  and  to  obey,  and  in 
affirming  that  it  vests  in  the  Church 
itself,  while  we  assert  the  great  princi 
ple  of  Christian  liberty,  we  assert  the 
no  less  important  principle  of  evangeli 
cal  order. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  occupy  your 
time  in  quoting  either  from  the  Re 
formed  Confessions  or  from  standard 
Presbyterian  writers,  that  the  principle 


16         WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM  ? 

just  stated  is  one  of  the  radical  princi 
ples  of  our  system.  It  is  enough  to  ad 
vert  to  the  recognition  of  it  involved  in 
the  office  of  ruling  elder. 

Ruling  elders  are  declared  to  be  the 
representatives  of  the  people.  They 
are  chosen  by  them  to  act  in  their  name 
in  the  government  of  the  Church.  The 
functions  of  these  elders,  therefore,  de 
termine  the  power  of  the  people ;  for  a 
representative  is  one  chosen  by  others 
to  do  in  their  name  what  they  are  enti 
tled  to  do  in  their  own  persons;  or 
rather  to  exercise  the  powers  which 
radically  inhere  in  those  for  whom  they 
act.  The  members  of  a  State  Legisla 
ture,  or  of  Congress,  for  example,  can 
exercise  only  those  powers  which  are 
inherent  in  the  people. 

The  powers,  therefore,  exercised  by 
our  ruling  elders,  are  powers  which  be 
long  to  the  lay  members  of  the  Church. 


WHAT  IS   PRESBTTERIANISM  ?         17 

What  then  are  the  powers  of  our  ruling 
elders?  1.  As  to  matters  of  doctrine 
and  the  great  office  of  teaching,  they 
have  an  equal  voice  with  the  clergy  in 
the  formation  and  adoption  of  all  symbols 
of  faith.  According  to  Presbyterianism, 
it  is  not  competent  for  the  clergy  to 
frame  and  authoritatively  set  forth  a 
creed  to  be  embraced  by  the  Church, 
and  to  be  made  a  condition  of  either 
ministerial  or  Christian  communion, 
without  the  consent  of  the  people. 
Such  creeds  profess  to  express  the  mind 
of  the  Church.  But  the  ministry  are 
not  the  Church,  and,  therefore,  cannot 
declare  the  faith  of  the  Church,  with 
out  the  co-operation  of  the  Church 
itself.  Such  Confessions,  at  the  time 
of  the  Eeforrnation,  proceeded  from  the 
whole  Church.  And  all  the  Confes 
sions  now  in  authority  in  the  different 
branches  of  the  great  Presbyterian 

2* 


18         WHAT  IS   PRESBYTERIANISM  ? 

family,  were  adopted  by  the  people 
through  their  representatives,  as  the 
expression  of  their  faith.  So,  too,  in 
the  selection  of  preachers  of  the  word, 
in  judging  of  their  fitness  for  the  sacred 
office,  in  deciding  whether  they  shall 
be  ordained,  in  judging  them  when  ar 
raigned  for  heresy,  the  people  have,  in 
fact,  an  equal  vote  with  the  clergy.* 

*  This  point  is  argued  at  length  by  Turrettin,  in 
his  chapter,  De  Jure  Vocationis.  He  proves  that  the 
right  to  call  and  appoint  ministers  belongs  to  the 
whole  Church:  1.  Quia  data  est  eccclesiis  potestas 
clavium.  He  quotes  Tostatus,  who,  he  says,  proves 
by  various  arguments,  "  Claves  datas  esse  toti  eccle- 
sise,  atque  adeo  jus  illarum  exercendarum  ad  earn 
primario  et  radicaliter  pertinere,  ad  alios  vero  tan- 
turn  secundario  et  participative.  2.  Idem  probatur 
ex  jure  ministerii,  quod  ecclesias  competit.  3.  Ex 
jure  superioritatis.  Quia  auctoritas  et  jus  actionis 
ad  superiorem,  non  ad  inferiorem  pertinet.  At  ec- 
c'lesia  est  superior  pastoribus,  non  pastores  eeclesise. 
4.  Ex  probatione  doctorum.  Quia  ad  ilium  pertinet 
jus  vocandi,  cujus  est  discernere  doctores  a  seducto-4 
ribus,  probare  sanam  doctrinam,  vocem  Christi  a 
voce  pseudapostolorum  distinguere,  alienum  non 


WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM  ?         19 

2.  The  same  thing  is  true  as  to  the 
jus  liturgicum,  as  it  is  called,  of  the 
Church.  The  ministry  cannot  frame  a 
ritual,  or  liturgy,  or  directory  for  public 

sequi,  anathematizare  eos  qui  aliud  evangelium  proe- 
dicant.  5.  Ex  praxi  apostolorum.  6.  Ex  ecclesia 
primitiva. 

Gerhard,  the  great  Lutheran  theologian  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  teaches  the  same  doctrine. 
Tomus  xii.  p.  85.  Cuicunque  claves  regni  coelorum 
ab  ipso  Christo  sunt  traditse,  penes  eum  est  jus  vo- 
candi  ecelesise  ministros.  Atqui  toti  ecclesise  tra- 
ditse  sunt  a  Christo  claves  regni  ccelorum.  Ergo 
penes  totam  ecclesiam  est  jus  vocandi  ministros. 
Propositio  confirmata  ex  definitione  clavium  regni 
coelorum.  Per  claves  enim  potestas  ecclesiastica 
intelligitur,  cujus  pars  est  jus  vocandi  et  constituendi 
ecclesise  ministros.  He  quotes  Augustin,  lib.  I.  de 
doctrina  Christ,  cap.  18 :  "  Has  claves  dedit  ecclesias 
suae,  ut  quse  solveret  in  terra,  soluta  essent  in  coelo, 
et  quae  ligaret  in  terra,  ligata  essent  in  coelo." 

In  the  Smalcald  Articles  it  is  said : — Ad  hsec  ne- 
cesse  est  fateri,  quod  claves  non  ad  personam  unius 
certi  hominis,  sed  ad  ecclesiam  pertineant,  ut  multa 
clarissima  et  firmissima  argumenta  testantur.  Nam 
Christus  de  clavibus  dicens,  Matt,  xviii.  addit :  ubi- 
cunque  duo  vel  tres  consenserint  super  terram  etc. 


20         WHAT  IS   PRESBYTERIANISM  ? 

worship,  and  enjoin  its  use  on  the  peo 
ple  to  whom  they  preach.  All  such 
regulations  are  of  force  only  so  far  as 
the  people  themselves,  in  conjunction 
with  their  ministers,  see  fit  to  sanction 
and  adopt  them. 

3.  So  too,  in  forming  a  constitution, 
or  in  enacting  rules  of  procedure,  or 
making  canons,  the  people  do  not  merely 
passively  assent,  but   actively  co-ope 
rate.     They  have,  in  all  these  matters, 
the  same  authority  as  the  clergy. 

4.  And  finally,  in  the  exercise  of  the 
power  of  the  keys,  in  opening  and  shut 
ting  the  door  of  the  communion  with 

Tribuit  igitur  principaliter  claves  ecclesise,  et  imme 
diate  ;  sicut  et  ob  earn  causam  ecclesia  principaliter 
habet  jus  vocationis. — Hase,  Libri  Symbolici,  p.  345. 
Ubicunque  est  ecclesia,  ibi  est  jus  administrandi 
evangelii.  Quare  necesse  est,  ecclesiam  retinere  jus 
vocandi  et  ordinandi  ministros.  Et  hoc  jus  est  do- 
num  proprie  datum  ecclesise,  quod  nulla  humana 
auctoritas  ecclesiae  eripere  potest. — Ibid.  p.  353. 


WHAT  IS  PRESBTTERIANISM?         21 

the  Church,  the  people  have  a  decisive 
voice.  In  all  cases  of  discipline,  they 
are  called  upon  to  judge  and  to  decide. 

There  can,  therefore,  be  no  doubt 
that  Presbyterians  do  carry  out  the 
principle  that  Church  power  vests  in 
the  Church  itself,  and  that  the  people 
have  a  right  to  a  substantive  part  in 
its  discipline  and  government.  In 
other  words,  we  do  not  hold  that  all 
power  vests  in  the  clergy,  and  that  the 
people  have  only  to  listen  and  obey. 

But  is  this  a  scriptural  principle  ?  Is 
it  a  matter  of  concession  and  courtesy, 
or  is  it  a  matter  of  divine  right  ?  Is 
our  office  of  ruling  elder  only  one  of  ex 
pediency,  or  is  it  an  essential  element 
of  our  system,  arising  out  of  the  very 
nature  of  the  Church  as  constituted  by 
God,  and,  therefore,  of  divine  autho 
rity? 

This,  in  the  last  resort,  is,  after  all, 


22         WHAT  IS   PRESBTTERIANISM  ? 

only  the  question,  "Whether  the  clergy 
are  the  Church,  or  whether  the  people 
are  the  Church.  If,  as  Louis  the  XIV. 
said  of  France,  "  I  am  the  State,"  the 
clergy  can  say,  "  We  are  the  Church/' 
then  all  Church  power  vests  in  them, 
as  all  civil  power  vested  in  the  French 
monarch.  But  if  the  people  are  the 
State,  civil  power  vests  in  them ;  and 
if  the  people  are  the  Church,  power 
vests  in  the  people.  If  the  clergy  are 
priests  and  mediators,  the  channel  of 
all  divine  communications,  and  the  only 
medium  of  access  to  God,  then  all  power 
is  in  their  hands ;  but  if  all  believers 
are  priests  and  kings,  then  they  have 
something  more  to  do  than  merely  pas 
sively  to  submit.  So  abhorrent  is  this 
idea  of  the  clergy  being  the  Church  to 
the  consciousness  of  Christians,  that  no 
definition  of  the  Church  for  the  first  fif 
teen  centuries  after  Christ,  was  ever 


WHAT   IS   PRESS  rTERIANISM?         23 

framed  that  even  mentioned  the  clergy. 
This  is  said  to  have  been  first  done  by 
Canisius  and  Bellarmine.*  Romanists 
define  the  Church  to  be  "those  who 
profess  the  true  religion,  and  are  subject 
to  the  Pope."  Anglicans  define  it  as 
"  those  who  profess  the  true  religion, 
and  are  subject  to  Prelates."  The  West 
minster  Confession  defines  the  visible 
Church,  "  Those  who  profess  the  true 
religion,  together  with  their  children." 
In  every  Protestant  symbol,  Lutheran 
or  Reformed,  the  Church  is  said  to  be 
the  company  of  faithful  men.  Now,  as 
a  definition  is  the  statement  of  the  es 
sential  attributes  or  characteristics  of  a 
subject;  and  as,  by  the  common  con 
sent  of  Protestants,  the  definition  of  the 
Church  is  complete  without  even  men 
tioning  the  clergy,  it  is  evidently  the 
renunciation  of  the  radical  principles 

*  Sherlock  on  the  Nature  of  the  Church,  p.  36. 


24         WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM? 

of  Protestantism,  and,  of  course,  of 
Presbyterianism,  to  maintain  that  all 
Church  power  vests  in  the  clergy.  The 
first  argument,  therefore,  in  support  of 
the  doctrine  that  the  people  have  a 
right  to  a  sufestantive  part  in  the  go 
vernment  of  the  Church  is  derived  from 
the  fact  that  they,  according  to  the 
Scriptures  and  all  Protestant  Confes 
sions,  constitute  the  Church. 

2.  A  second  argument  is  this.  All 
Church  power  arises  from  the  indwell 
ing  of  the  Spirit;  therefore  those  in 
whom  the  Spirit  dwells  are  the  seat  of 
Church  power.  But  the  Spirit  dwells 
in  the  whole  Church,  and  therefore  the 
whole  Church  is  the  seat  of  Church 
power. 

The  first  member  of  this  syllogism  is 
not  disputed.  The  ground  on  which 
Romanists  hold  that  Church  power 
vests  in  the  bishops,  to  the  exclusion 


WHAT   IS   PRESS  YTERIANISM?         25 

of  the  people,  is  that  they  hold  that 
the  Spirit  was  promised  and  given  to 
the  bishops  as  a  class.  When  Christ 
breathed  on  his  disciples,  and  said, 
"  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost ;  whose 
soever  sins  ye  remit,  they  are  remitted 
unto  them ;  and  whose  soever  sins  ye 
retain,  they  are  retained ;"  and  when  he 
said,  "Whatsoever  ye  shall  bind  on 
earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven;  and 
whatsoever  ye  shall  loose  on  earth 
shall  be  loosed  in  heaven;  and  when 
he  further  said,  "  He  that  heareth  you 
heareth  me;  and  lo,  I  am  with  you 
alway,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world ;" 
they  hold  that  he  gave  the  Holy  Ghost 
to  the  apostles  and  to  their  successors 
in  the  apostleship,  to  continue  unto  the 
end  of  the  world,  to  guide  them  into 
the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  and  to  con 
stitute  them  the  authoritative  teachers 

and  rulers  of  the  Church.  If  this  is  true, 
3 


26         WHAT   IS   FRESBYTERIANISM? 

then,  of  course,  all  Church  power  vests 
in  these  apostle-bishops.  But  on  the 
other  hand,  if  it  is  true  that  the  Spirit 
dwells  in  the  whole  Church;  if  he 
guides  the  people  as  well  as  the  clergy 
into  the  knowledge  of  the  truth ;  if  he 
animates  the  whole  body,  and  makes  it 
the  representative  of  Christ  on  earth, 
so  that  they  who  hear  the  Church  hear 
Christ,  and  so  that  what  the  Church 
binds  on  earth  is  bound  in  heaven, 
then,  of  course,  Church  power  vests  in 
the  Church  itself,  and  not  exclusively 
in  the  clergy.* 

If  there  be  anything  plain  from  the 
whole  tenor  of  the  New  Testament,  and 
from  innumerable  explicit  declarations 
of  the  word  of  God,  it  is  that  the  Spirit 
dwells  in  the  whole  body  of  Christ ;  that 

*  Certe  ex  pastorum  superbia  nata  est  haec  tyran- 
nis,  ut  quse  ad  communem  totius  ecclesi98  statum 
pertinent,  excluso  populo,  paucorum  arbitrio,  ne 
dicam  libidini,  subjecta  sint. — Calvin  on  Acts  xv.  22. 


WHAT   IS  PRESBYTERIANISM?        27 

he  guides  all  his  people  into  the  know 
ledge  of  the  truth ;  that  every  believer 
is  taught  of  God,  and  has  the  witness 
in  himself,  and  has  no  need  that  any 
should  teach  him,  but  the  anointing 
which  abideth  in  him  teacheth  him  all 
things.  It  is,  therefore,  the  teaching 
of  the  Church,  and  not  of  the  clergy  ex 
clusively,  which  is  ministerially  the 
teaching  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  judgment 
of  the  Church,  which  is  the  judgment 
of  the  Spirit.  It  is  a  thoroughly  anti- 
christian  doctrine  that  the  Spirit  of  God, 
and  therefore  the  life  and  governing 
power  of  the  Church,  resides  in  the  mi 
nistry,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  people. 

When  the  great  promise  of  the  Spirit 
was  fulfilled  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  it 
wa?  fulfilled  not  in  reference  to  the  apos 
tles  only.  It  was  of  the  whole  assembly 
it  was  said,  "  They  were  all  filled  with 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  began  to  speak  with 


28         WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM? 

other  tongues,  as  the  Spirit  gave  them 
utterance."  Paul,  in  writing  to  the 
Komans,  says,  "We  being  many,  are 
one  body  in  Christ,  and  every  one  mem 
bers  one  of  another.  Having,  therefore, 
gifts  differing  according  to  the  grace 
given  unto  us,  whether  prophecy,  let  us 
prophesy  according  to  the  proportion  of 
faith ;  or  ministry,  let  us  wait  on  our 
ministering;  or  he  that  teacheth,  on 
teaching."  To  the  Corinthians  he  says : 
"  To  every  one  is  given  a  manifestation 
of  the  Spirit  to  profit  withal.  To  one 
is  given  by  the  Spirit  the  word  of  wis 
dom,  to  another  the  word  of  knowledge 
by  the  same  Spirit."  To  the  Ephesians 
he  says  :  "  There  is  one  body  and  one 
Spirit ;  but  unto  every  one  is  given  grace 
according  to  the  measure  of  the  gift  of 
Christ."  This  is  the  uniform  represen 
tation  of  Scripture.  The  Spirit  dwells 
in  the  whole  Church,  animates,  guides, 


WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM?         29 

and  instructs  the  whole.  If,  therefore, 
it  be  true,  as  all  admit,  that  Church 
power  goes  with  the  Spirit,  and  arises 
out  of  his  presence,  it  cannot  belong  ex 
clusively  to  the  clergy. 

3.  The  third  argument  on  this  sub 
ject  is  derived  from  the  commission 
given  by  Christ  to  his  Church,  "  Go  ye 
into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gos 
pel  to  every  creature ;  and  lo,  I  am  with 
you  alway,  even  to  the  end  of  the 
world."  This  commission  imposes  a 
certain  duty ;  it  conveys  certain  powers ; 
and  it  includes  a  great  promise.  The 
duty  is  to  spread  and  to  maintain  the 
gospel  in  its  purity  over  the  whole 
earth.  The  powers  are  those  required 
for  the  accomplishment  of  that  object, 
i.  e.  the  power  to  teach,  to  rule,  and  to 
exercise  discipline.  And  the  promise  is 
the  assurance  of  Christ's  perpetual  pre 
sence  and  assistance.  As  neither  the 
3* 


30         WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIAXISM? 

duty  to  extend  and  sustain  the  gospel 
in  its  purity,  nor  the  promise  of  Christ's 
presence  is  peculiar  to  the  apostles  as  a 
class,  or  to  the  clergy  as  a  body,  but  as 
both  the  duty  and  the  promise  belong 
to  the  whole  Church,  so  also  of  neces 
sity  do  the  powers  on  the  possession  of 
which  the  obligation  rests.  The  com 
mand,  "Go  teach  all  nations,"  "go 
preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature," 
falls  on  the  ear  of  the  whole  Church. 
It  wrakens  a  thrill  in  every  heart. 
Every  Christian  feels  that  the  command 
is  addressed  to  a  body  of  which  he  is  a 
member,  and  that  he  has  a  personal 
obligation  to  discharge.  It  was  not  the 
ministry  alone  to  whom  this  commis 
sion  was  given,  and  therefore  it  is  not 
to  them  alone  that  the  powers  which  it 
conveys  belong. 

4.  The  right  of  the  people  to  a  sub 
stantive  part  in  the  government  of  the 


WHAT  IS   PRESBYTEKIANISM?         31 

Church  is  recognized  and  sanctioned  by 
the  apostles  in  almost  every  conceivable 
way.  When  they  thought  it  necessary 
to  complete  the  college  of  apostles,  after 
the  apostasy  of  Judas,  Peter,  address 
ing  the  disciples,  the  number  being  an 
hundred  and  twenty,  said,  "  Men  and 
brethren,  of  these  men  which  have  com- 
panied  with  us,  all  the  time  the  Lord 
Jesus  went  in  and  out  among  us,  begin 
ning  from  the  baptism  of  John  unto 
that  same  day  he  was  taken  up  from 
us,  must  one  be  ordained  to  be  a  wit 
ness  with  us  of  his  resurrection."  And 
they  appointed  two,  Joseph  called  Bar- 
sabas,  who  was  surnamed  Justus,  and 
Matthias.  And  they  prayed  and  cast 
lots,  and  the  lot  fell  on  Matthias,  and 
he  was  numbered  with  the  apostles." 
Thus,  in  this  most  important  initiatory 
step,  the  people  had  a  decisive  voice. 
So,  when  deacons  were  to  be  appointed, 


32         WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM? 

the  whole  multitude  chose  the  seven 
men  who  were  to  be  invested  with  the 
office.  When  the  question  arose  as  to 
the  continued  obligation  of  the  Mosaic 
law,  the  authoritative  decision  proceed 
ed  from  the  whole  Church.  "  It  pleased," 
says  the  sacred  historian,  "  the  apostles 
and  elders,  with  the  whole  Church,  to 
send  chosen  men  of  their  own  company 
to  Antioch."  And  they  wrote  letters 
by  them  after  this  manner :  "  The  apos 
tles,  elders,  and  brethren,  (oi  owroVToXoi  xou 
01  tfpstf/3uT£po»  xcu  o!  cc&XqjoA  send  greeting  un 
to  the  brethren  which  are  of  the  Gen 
tiles  in  Antioch,  and  Syria,  and  Cilicia." 
The  brethren,  therefore,  were  associated 
with  the  ministry  in  the  decision  of  this 
great  doctrinal  and  practical  question. 
Most  of  the  apostolic  epistles  are  ad 
dressed  to  churches,  i.  e.  the  saints  or  be 
lievers,  of  Corinth,  Ephesus,  Galatia, 
and  Philippi.  In  these  epistles,  the 


WHAT  IS   PRESBYTERIANISM?         33 

people  are  assumed  to  be  responsible 
for  the  orthodoxy  of  their  teachers,  and 
for  the  purity  of  church  members. 
They  are  required  not  to  believe  every 
spirit,,  but  to  try  the  spirits ;  to  sit  in 
judgment  on  the  question  whether 
those  who  came  to  them  as  religious 
teachers  were  really  sent  of  God.  The 
Galatians  are  severely  censured  for  giv 
ing  heed  to  false  doctrines,  and  are 
called  to  pronounce  even  an  apostle  ana 
thema,  if  he  preached  another  gospel. 
The  Corinthians  are  censured  for  allow 
ing  an  incestuous  person  to  remain  in 
their  communion ;  they  are  commanded 
to  excommunicate  him,  and  afterwards, 
on  his  repentance,  to  restore  him  to 
their  fellowship.  These  and  other  cases 
of  the  kind  determine  nothing  as  to  the 
way  in  which  the  power  of  the  people 
was  exercised ;  but  they  prove  conclu 
sively  that  such  power  existed.  The 


34         WHAT  IS   PRESBTTERIANISM? 

command  to  watch  over  the  orthodoxy 
of  ministers  and  the  purity  of  members, 
'was  not  addressed  exclusively  to  the 
clergy,  but  to  the  whole  Church.  We 
believe  that,  as  in  the  Synagogue,  and 
in  every  well  ordered  society,  the  pow 
ers  inherent  in  the  society  are  exercised 
through  appropriate  organs.  But  the 
fact  that  these  commands  are  addressed 
to  the  people,  or  to  the  whole  Church, 
proves  that  they  were  responsible,  and 
that  they  had  a  substantive  part  in  the 
government  of  the  Church.  It  would 
be  absurd  in  other  nations  to  address 
any  complaints  or  exhortations  to  the 
people  of  Russia  in  reference  to  national 
affairs,  because  they  have  no  part  in 
the  government.  It  would  be  no  less 
absurd  to  address  Eoman  Catholics  as 
a  self-governing  body.  But  such  ad 
dresses  may  well  be  made  by  the  peo 
ple  of  one  of  our  States  to  the  people  of 


WHAT   IS  PRESBYTERIANISM?         35 

another,  because  the  people  have  the 
power,  though  it  is  exercised  through 
legitimate  organs.  While,  therefore, 
the  epistles  of  the  apostles  do  not  prove 
that  the  churches  whom  they  addressed 
had  not  regular  officers  through  whom 
the  power  of  the  Church  was  to  be  ex 
ercised,  they  abundantly  prove  that 
such  power  vested  in  the  people ;  that 
they  had  a  right  and  were  bound  to 
take  part  in  the  government  of  the 
Church,  and  in  the  preservation  of  its 
purity. 

It  was  only  gradually,  through  a 
course  of  ages,  that  the  power  thus  per 
taining  to  the  people  was  absorbed  by 
the  clergy.  The  progress  of  this  ab 
sorption  kept  pace  with  the  corruption 
of  the  Church,  until  the  entire  domina 
tion  of  the  hierarchy  was  finally  estar 
blished. 

The   first  great   principle,  then,  of 


36         WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM  ? 

Presbyterianism  is  the  re-assertion  of 
the  primitive  doctrine  that  Church 
power  belongs  to  the  whole  Church; 
that  that  power  is  exercised  through 
legitimate  officers,  and  therefore  that 
the  office  of  ruling  elders  as  the  repre 
sentatives  of  the  people,  is  not  a  matter 
of  expediency,  but  an  essential  element 
of  our  system,  arising  out  of  the  nature 
of  the  Church,  and  resting  on  the  au 
thority  of  Christ. 

II.  The  second  great  principle  of 
Presbyterianism  is,  that  presbyters 
who  minister  in  word  and  doctrine  are 
the  highest  permanent  officers  of  the 
Church. 

1.  Our  first  remark  on  this  subject  is 
that  the  ministry  is  an  office,  and  not 
merely  a  work.  An  office  is  a  station 
to  which  the  incumbent  must  be  ap 
pointed,  which  implies  certain  preroga 
tives,  which  it  is  the  duty  of  those  con- 


WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM?         37 

cerned  to  recognize  and  submit  to.  A 
work,  on  the  other  hand,  is  something 
which  any  man  who  has  the  ability 
may  undertake.  This  is  an  obvious 
distinction.  It  is  not  every  man  who 
has  the  qualifications  for  a  Governor  of 
a  State,  who  has  the  right  to  act  as 
such.  He  must  be  regularly  appointed 
to  the  post.  So  it  is  not  every  one  who 
has  the  qualifications  for  the  work  of 
the  ministry,  who  can  assume  the  office 
of  the  ministry.  He  must  be  regularly 
appointed.  This  is  plain;  (a)  From 
the  titles  given  to  ministers  in  the 
Scriptures,  which  imply  official  station. 
(6)  From  their  qualifications  being  spe 
cified  in  the  word  of  God,  and  the  mode 
of  judging  of  those  qualifications  being 
prescribed,  (c)  From  the  express  com 
mand  to  appoint  to  the  office  only  such 
as,  on  due  examination,  are  found  com 
petent,  (r^)  From  the  record  of  such 
4 


38         WHAT   IS  PRESBYTERIANISM  ? 

appointment  in  the  word  of  God.  (e) 
From  the  official  authority  ascribed  to 
them  in  the  Scriptures,  and  the  com 
mand  that  such  authority  should  be 
duly  recognized.  We  need  not  further 
argue  this  point,  as  it  is  not  denied,  ex 
cept  by  the  Quakers,  and  a  few  such  wri 
ters  as  Neander,  who  ignore  all  distinc 
tion  between  the  clergy  and  laity,  ex 
cept  what  arises  from  diversity  of  gifts. 
2.  Our  second  remark  is,  that  the  of 
fice  is  of  divine  appointment,  not  merely 
in  the  sense  in  which  the  civil  powers 
are  ordained  of  God,  but  in  the  sense 
that  ministers  derive  their  authority 
from  Christ,  and  not  from  the  people. 
Christ  has  not  only  ordained  that  there 
shall  be  such  officers  in  his  Church — he 
has  not  only  specified  their  duties  and 
prerogatives — but  he  gives  the  requisite 
qualifications,  and  calls  those  thus 
qualified,  and  by  that  call  gives  them 


WHAT  IS   PRESBTTERIANISM?         39 

their  official  authority.  The  function 
of  the  Church  in  the  premises,  is  not  to 
confer  the  office,  but  to  sit  in  judgment 
on  the  question,  whether  the  candidate 
is  called  of  God;  and  if  satisfied  on 
that  point,  to  express  its  judgment  in 
the  public  and  solemn  manner  prescribed 
in  Scripture. 

That  ministers  do  thus  derive  their 
authority  from  Christ,  follows  not 
merely  from  the  theocratical  character 
of  the  Church,  and  the  relation  which 
Christ,  its  king,  sustains  to  it,  as  the 
source  of  all  authority  and  power,  but, 

(a)  From  the  fact  that  it  is  expressly 
asserted,  that  Christ  gave  some  apostles, 
gome  prophets,  some  evangelists,  some 
pastors  and  teachers,  for  the  edifying 
of  the  saints,  and  for  the  work  of  the 
ministry.  He,  and  not  the  people, 
constituted  or  appointed  the  apostles, 
prophets,  pastors,  and  teachers. 


40         WHAT  IS   PRESBYTERIANISM  ? 

(5)  Ministers  are,  therefore,  called 
the  servants,  the  messengers,  the  am 
bassadors  of  Christ.  They  speak  in 
Christ's  name,  and  by  his  authority. 
They  are  sent  by  Christ  to  the  Church, 
to  reprove,  rebuke,  and  exhort  with  all 
long-suffering  and  doctrine.  They  are 
indeed  the  servants  of  the  Church,  as 
labouring  in  her  service,  and  as  subject 
to  her  authority — servants  as  opposed 
to  lords — but  not  in  the  sense  of  deriv 
ing  their  commission  and  powers  from 
the  Church. 

(c)  Paul  exhorts  the  presbyters  of 
Ephesus, "  To  take  heed  to  all  the  flock 
over  which  the  Holy  Ghost  had  made 
them  overseers."  To  Archippus  he 
says,  "  Take  heed  to  the  ministry  which 
thou  hast  received  in  the  Lord."  It 
was  then  the  Holy  Ghost  that  appointed 
these  presbyters,  and  made  them  over 
seers. 


WHAT   IS   PRESS YTERIANISM  ?         41 

(d)  This  is  involved  in  the  whole 
doctrine  of  the  Church  as  the  body  of 
Christ,  in  which  he  dwells  by  his 
Spirit,  giving  to  each  member  his  gifts, 
qualifications,  and  functions,  dividing 
to  every  one  severally  as  he  wills  ;  and 
by  these  gifts  making  one  an  apostle, 
another  a  prophet,  and  another  a 
teacher,  another  a  worker  of  miracles. 
It  is  thus  that  the  apostle  reconciles  the 
doctrine  that  ministers  derive  their 
authority  and  power  from  Christ,  and 
not  from  the  people,  with  the  doctrine 
that  Church  powers  vest  ultimately  in 
the  Church  as  a  whole.  He  refers  to 
the  analogy  between  the  human  body 
and  the  Church  as  the  body  of  Christ. 
As  in  the  human  body,  the  soul  resides 
not  in  any  one  part  to  the  exclusion  of 
the  rest ;  and  as  life  and  power  belong 
to  it  as  a  whole,  though  one  part  is  an 

eye,   another   an  ear,  and   another  a 
4* 


42         WHAT  IS   PRESBYTERIANISM  ? 

hand ;  so  Christ,  by  his  Spirit,  dwells  in 
the  Church,  and  all  power  belongs  to 
the  Church,  though  the  indwelling 
Spirit  gives  to  each  member  his  func 
tion  and  office.  So  that  ministers  are 
no  more  appointed  by  the  Church,  than 
the  eye  by  the  hands  and  feet  This  is 
the  representation  which  pervades  the 
New  Testament,  and  necessarily  sup 
poses  that  the  ministers  of  the  Church 
are  the  servants  of  Christ,  selected  and 
appointed  by  him  through  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

3.  The  third  remark  relates  to  the 
functions  of  the  presbyters,  (a)  They 
are  charged  with  the  preaching  of  the 
word  and  the  administration  of  the 
sacraments.  They  are  the  organs  of 
the  Church  in  executing  the  great  com 
mission  to  make  disciples  of  all  nations, 
teaching  them,  and  baptizing  them  in 
the  name  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 


WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM  ?         43 

Ghost.  (V)  They  are  rulers  in  the 
house  of  God.  (c)  They  are  invested 
with  the  power  of  the  keys,  opening 
and  shutting  the  door  of  the  Church. 
They  are  clothed  with  all  these  powers 
in  virtue  of  their  office.  If  sent  where 
the  Church  does  not  already  exist,  they 
exercise  them  in  gathering  and  found 
ing  churches.  If  they  labour  in  the 
midst  of  churches  already  established, 
they  exercise  these  powers  in  concert 
with  other  presbyters,  and  with  the  re 
presentatives  of  the  people.  It  is  im 
portant  to  notice  this  distinction.  The 
functions  above  mentioned  belong  to 
the  ministerial  office,  and,  therefore,  to 
every  minister.  When  alone  he  of  ne 
cessity  exercises  his  functions  alone,  in 
gathering  and  organizing  churches; 
but  when  they  are  gathered,  he  is  asso 
ciated  with  other  ministers,  and  with 
the  representatives  of  the  people,  and, 


44         WHAT   IS  PRESBYTERIANISM  ? 

therefore,  can  no  longer  act  alone  in 
matters  of  government  and  discipline. 
We  see  this  illustrated  in  the  apostolic 
age.  The  apostles,  and  those  ordained 
by  them,  acted  in  virtue  of  their  minis 
terial  office,  singly  in  founding  churches, 
but  afterwards  always  in  connection 
with  other  ministers  and  elders.  This 
is,  in  point  of  fact,  the  theory  of  the 
ministerial  office  included  in  the  whole 
system  of  Presbyterianism. 

That  this  is  the  scriptural  view  of 
the  presbyterial  office,  or  that  presby 
ters  are  invested  with  the  powers  above 
referred  to,  is  plain, 

(a)  From  the  significant  titles  given 
to  them  in  the  word  of  God ;  they  are 
called  teachers,  rulers,  shepherds  or  pas 
tors,  stewards,  overseers  or  bishops, 
builders,  watchmen,  ambassadors,  wit 
nesses. 

(&)  From  the  qualifications  required 


WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM?         45 

for  the  office.  They  must  be  apt  to 
teach,  well  instructed,  able  rightly  to 
divide  the  word  of  God,  sound  in  the 
faith,  able  to  resist  gainsayers,  able  to 
rule  their  own  families ;  for  if  a  man 
cannot  rule  his  own  house,  how  can  he 
take  care  of  the  Church  of  God?  He 
must  have  the  personal  qualities  which 
give  him  authority.  He  must  not  be  a 
novice,  but  grave,  sober,  temperate,  vi 
gilant,  of  good  behaviour,  and  of  good 
report. 

(c)  From  the  representations  given 
of  their  duties.  They  are  to  preach 
the  word,  to  feed  the  flock  of  God,  to 
guide  it  as  a  shepherd;  they  are  to  la 
bour  for  the  edification  of  the  saints;  to 
watch  for  souls  as  those  who  must  give 
an  account;  they  must  take  heed  to  the 
Church  to  guard  it  against  false  teachers, 
or,  as  the  apostle  calls  them,  "grievous 
wolves;"  they  are  to  exercise  episcopal 


46         WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIAJSTISM  ? 

supervision,  because  the  Holy  Ghost, 
as  Paul  said  to  the  presbyters  of  Ephe- 
sus,  had  made  them  bishops,  Acts  xx. 
28,  and  the  Apostle  Peter  exhorts  pres 
byters  to  feed  the  flock  of  God,  taking 
episcopal  oversight  thereof,  (stifaQKovvrs^ 
not  of  constraint,  but  willingly.  They 
are,  therefore,  bishops.  Every  time 
that  word,  or  any  of  its  cognates,  is 
used  in  the  New  Testament,  in  relation 
to  the  Christian  ministry,  it  refers  to 
presbyters,  except  in  Acts  i.  20,  where 
the  word  bishopric  is  used  in  a  quota 
tion  from  the  Septuagint,  applied  to  the 
office  of  Judas. 

4.  The  office  of  presbyters  is  a  per 
manent  one. 

This  is  plain :  (a)  Because  the  gift  is 
permanent.  Every  office  implies  a  gift 
of  which  it  is  the  appointed  organ.  If, 
therefore,  a  gift  be  permanent,  the  or 
gan  for  its  exercise  must  be  permanent. 


WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM?         47 

The  prophets  of  the  New  Testament 
were  the  recipients  of  occasional  inspi 
ration.  As  the  gift  of  inspiration  has 
ceased,  the  office  of  prophet  has  ceased. 
But  as  the  gift  of  teaching  and  ruling 
is  permanent,  so  also  is  the  office  of 
teacher  and  ruler.  (6)  As  the  Church 
is  commissioned  to  make  disciples  of  all 
nations,  to  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature ;  as  saints  always  need  to  be 
fed,  and  built  up  in  their  most  holy 
faith,  she  must  always  have  the  officers 
which  are  her  divinely  appointed  or 
gans  for  the  accomplishment  of  this 
work. 

(c)  We  accordingly  find  that  the  apos 
tles  not   only  ordained  presbyters   in 
every  city,  but  that  they  gave  directions 
for  their  ordination  in   all  subsequent 
time,    prescribing   their   qualifications, 
and  the  mode  of  their  appointment. 

(d)  In  point  of  fact,  they  have  con- 


48         WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIAEISM? 

tinned  to  the  present  time.  This, 
therefore,  is  not  a  matter  open  to  dis 
pute  ;  and  it  is  not,  in  fact,  disputed  by 
any  with  whom  we  are  now  concerned. 

5.  Finally,  in  relation  to  this  part  of 
our  subject,  presbyters  are  the  highest 
permanent  officers  of  the  Church. 

(a)  This  may  be  inferred,  in  the  first 
place,  from  the  fact  that  there  are  no 
higher  permanent  functions  attributed 
in  the  New  Testament  to  the  Christian 
ministry,  than  those  which  are  therein 
attributed  to  presbyters.  If  they  are 
charged  with  the  preaching  of  the  gos 
pel,  with  the  extension,  continuance, 
and  purity  of  the  Church — if  they  are 
teachers  and  rulers,  charged  with  epis 
copal  powers  and  oversight,  what  more, 
of  a  permanent  character,  is  demanded  ? 

2.  But,  secondly,  it  is  admitted  that 
there  we^e,  during  the  apostolic  age,  of 
ficers  of  a  higher  grade  than  presbyters, 


WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM?         49 

viz  :  apostles  and  prophets.  The  latter, 
it  is  conceded,  were  temporary.  The 
only  question,  therefore,  relates  to  the 
apostles.  Prelatists  admit  that  there  is 
no  permanent  class  or  grade  of  church 
officers  intermediate  between  apostles 
and  presbyters.  But  they  teach  that 
the  apostleship  was  designed  to  be  per 
petual,  and  that  prelates  are  the  official 
successors  of  the  original  apostles.  If 
this  is  so,  if  they  have  the  office,  they 
must  have  the  gifts  of  an  apostle.  If 
they  have  the  prerogatives,  they  must 
have  the  attributes  of  the  original  mes 
sengers  of  Christ.  Even  in  civil  go 
vernment  every  office  presumes  inward 
qualifications.  An  order  of  nobility, 
without  real  superiority,  is  a  mere 
sham.  Much  more  is  this  necessary,  in 
the  living  organism  of  the  Church,  in 
which  the  indwelling  Spirit  manifests 

himself  as  he  wills.     An  apostle  with- 
5 


50         WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM? 

out  the  "  word  of  wisdom/'  was  a  false 
apostle ;  a  teacher  without  "  the  word 
of  knowledge/7  was  no  teacher;  a  worker 
of  miracles  without  the  gift  of  miracles, 
was  a  magician ;  any  one  pretending  to 
speak  with  tongues  without  the  gift  of 
tongues,  was  a  deceiver.  In  like  man 
ner  an  apostle  without  the  gifts  of  an 
apostle,  is  a  mere  pretender.  There 
might  as  well  be  a  man  without  a  soul. 
Romanists  tell  us  that  the  Pope  is 
the  vicar  of  Christ ;  that  he  is  his  suc 
cessor  as  the  universal  head  and  ruler 
of  the  Church  on  earth.  If  this  is  so, 
he  must  be  a  Christ.  If  he  has  Christ's 
prerogatives,  he  must  have  Christ's  at 
tributes.  He  cannot  have  the  one 
without  the  other.  If  the  Pope,  by  di 
vine  appointment,  is  invested  with  uni 
versal  dominion  over  the  Christian 
world ;  if  all  his  decisions  as  to  faith 
and  duty  are  infallible  and  authorita- 


WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM  ?         51 

tive;  if  dissent  from  his  decisions  or 
disobedience  to  his  commands  forfeits 
salvation,  then  is  he  heir  to  the  gifts  as 
well  as  to  the  office  of  Christ.  If  he 
claims  the  office,  without  having  the 
gifts,  then  is  he  anti-christ,  "the  man 
of  sin,  the  son  of  perdition,  who  opposeth 
and  exalteth  himself  above  all  that  is 
called  God,  or  that  is  worshipped,  so 
that  he,  as  God,  sitteth  in  the  temple 
of  God,  showing  himself  that  he  is  God." 
Romanists  concede  this  principle.  In 
ascribing  to  the  Pope  the  prerogatives 
of  Christ,  they  are  forced  to  ascribe  to 
him  his  attributes.  Do  they  not  en 
throne  him?  Do  they  not  kiss  his  feet? 
Do  they  not  offer  him  incense?  Do 
they  not  address  him  with  blasphemous 
titles?  Do  they  not  pronounce  ana 
themas  against,  and  debar  from  heaven, 
all  who  do  not  acknowledge  his  au 
thority  ? 


52         WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM  ? 

This  is  the  reason  why  opposition  to 
Popery  in  the  breasts  of  Protestants  is 
a  religious  feeling.  Caesar  Augustus 
might  rule  the  world ;  the  Czar  of  Kus- 
sia  may  attain  to  universal  dominion, 
but  such  dominion  would  not  involve 
the  assumption  of  divine  attributes;  and 
therefore  submission  to  it  would  not 
involve  apostasy  from  God,  and  oppo 
sition  to  it  would  not  of  necessity  be  a 
religious  duty.  But  to  be  the  Vicar  of 
Christ,  to  claim  to  exercise  his  preroga 
tives  on  earth,  does  involve  a  claim  to 
his  attributes,  and  therefore  our  opposi 
tion  to  Popery  is  opposition  to  a  man 
claiming  to  be  God. 

But  if  this  principle  applies  to  the 
case  of  the  Pope,  as  all  Protestants  ad 
mit,  it  must  also  apply  to  the  apostle- 
ship.  If  any  set  of  men  claim  to  be 
apostles — if  they  assert  the  right  to  ex 
ercise  apostolic  authority,  they  cannot 


WHAT   IS   PRESS YTERIANISM  ?         53 

avoid  claiming  the  possession  of  apos 
tolic  endowments ;  and  if  they  have  not 
the  latter,  their  claim  to  the  former  is  an 
usurpation  and  pretence. 

What,  then,  were  the  apostles  ?  It 
is  plain  from  the  divine  record  that 
they  were  men  immediately  commis 
sioned  by  Christ  to  make  a  full  and 
authoritative  revelation  of  his  religion ; 
to  organize  the  Church;  to  furnish  it 
with  officers  and  laws,  and  to  start  it 
on  its  career  of  conquest  through  the 
world. 

To  qualify  them  for  this  work,  they 
received,  first,  the  word  of  wisdom,  or 
a  complete  revelation  of  the  doctrines 
of  the  gospel ;  secondly,  the  gift  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  in  such  manner  as  to  ren 
der  them  infallible  in  the  communica 
tion  of  the  truth,  and  in  the  exercise 
of  their  authority  as  rulers;  thirdly, 
the  gift  of  working  miracles  in  confir- 

5* 


54         WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM  ? 

ination  of  their  mission,  and  of  commu 
nicating  the  Holy  Ghost  by  the  imposi 
tion  of  their  hands. 

The  prerogatives  arising  out  of  these 
gifts,  were,  first — absolute  authority  in 
all  matters  of  faith  and  practice ;  se 
condly,  authority  equally  absolute  in 
legislating  for  the  Church  as  to  its  con 
stitution  and  laws;  thirdly,  universal 
jurisdiction  over  the  officers  and  mem 
bers  of  the  Church. 

Paul,  when  he  claimed  to  be  an 
apostle,  claimed  this  immediate  com 
mission,  this  revelation  of  the  gospel, 
this  plenary  inspiration,  and  this  abso 
lute  authority  and  general  jurisdiction. 
And  in  support  of  his  claims,  he  ap 
peals  not  only  to  the  manifest  co-ope 
ration  of  God  through  the  Spirit,  but 
to  the  signs  of  an  apostle,  which  he 
wrought  in  all  patience,  in  signs,  and 


WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM  ?         55 

wonders,  and  mighty  deeds.  2  Cor. 
xii.  12. 

It  followed  necessarily  from  the  ac 
tual  possession  by  the  apostles  of  these 
gifts  of  revelation  and  inspiration,  which 
rendered  them  infallible,  that  agreement 
with  them  in  faith,  and  subjection  to 
them  were  necessary  to  salvation.  The 
apostle  John,  therefore,  said,  "  He  that 
knoweth  God  heareth  us ;  and  he  that 
is  not  of  God,  heareth  not  us.  Hereby 
we  know  the  spirit  of  truth  and  the 
spirit  of  error."  1  John  iv.  6.  And 
the  apostle  Paul  pronounced  accursed 
even  an  angel  should  he  deny  the  gos 
pel  which  he  preached,  and  as  he 
preached  it.  The  writings  of  the  apos 
tles,  therefore,  have  in  all  ages  and  in 
every  part  of  the  Church,  been  regarded 
as  infallible  and  authoritative  in  all 
matters  of  faith  and  practice. 

Now,  the  argument  is,  that  if  pre- 


56         WHAT  IS   PRESBYTERIANISM  ? 

lates  are  apostles,  they  must  have  apos 
tolic  gifts.  They  have  not  those  gifts, 
therefore  they  are  not  apostles. 

The  first  member  of  this  syllogism 
can  hardly  need  further  proof.  It  is 
evident  from  the  nature  of  the  case, 
and  from  the  Scriptures,  that  the  pre 
rogatives  of  the  apostles  arose  out  of 
their  peculiar  endowments.  It  was 
because  they  were  inspired,  and  conse 
quently  infallible,  that  they  were  in 
vested  with  the  authority  which  they 
exercised.  An  uninspired  apostle  is  as 
much  a  solecism  as  an  uninspired  pro 
phet. 

As  to  the  second  point,  viz. :  that 
prelates  have  not  apostolic  gifts,  it 
needs  no  argument.  They  have  no 
special  revelation;  they  are  not  in 
spired,  they  have  not  either  the  power 
of  working  miracles,  or  of  conferring 


WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM?         57 

miraculous  gifts,  and,  therefore,  they  are 
not  apostles. 

So  inseparable  is  the  connection  be 
tween  an  office  and  its  gifts,  that  pre 
lates,  in  claiming  to  be  apostles,  are 
forced  to  make  a  show  of  possessing 
apostolic  gifts.  Though  not  inspired 
individually,  they  claim  to  be  inspired 
as  a  body;  though  not  infallible  sin 
gly,  they  claim  to  be  infallible  collec 
tively  ;  though  they  have  not  the  power 
of  conferring  miraculous  gifts,  they 
claim  the  power  of  giving  the  grace 
of  orders.  These  claims,  however,  are 
not  less  preposterous  than  the  assump 
tion  of  personal  inspiration.  The  his 
torical  fact,  that  the  prelates  collec 
tively,  as  well  as  individually,  are  un 
inspired  and  fallible,  is  not  less  palpable 
than  that  they  are  mortal.  Those  of 
one  age  differed  from  those  of  another. 
Those  of  one  Church  pronounced  ac- 


58         WHAT   IS   PRESS  YTERIANISM? 

cursed  those  of  another — Greeks  against 
Latins,  Latins  against  Greeks,  and  An 
glicans  against  both.  Besides,  if  pre 
lates  are  apostles,  then  there  can  be  no 
religion  and  no  salvation  among  those 
not  subject  to  their  authority.  He  is 
not  of  God,  said  the  apostle  John,  who 
heareth  not  us.  This  is  a  conclusion 
which  Komanists  and  Anglicans  admit, 
and  boldly  assert.  It  is,  however,  a 
complete  reductio  ad  absurdum.  It 
might  as  well  be  asserted  that  the  sun 
never  shines  out  of  Greenland,  as  that 
there  is  no  religion  beyond  the  pale  of 
prelatical  churches.  To  maintain  this 
position,  necessitates  the  perversion  of 
the  very  nature  of  religion.  As  faith 
in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  repentance 
towards  God,  love,  and  holy  living,  are 
found  outside  of  prelatical  churches, 
prelatists  maintain  that  religion  does 
not  consist  in  these  fruits  of  the  Spirit, 


WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM?          59 

but  in  something  external  and  formal. 
The  assumption,  therefore,  that  prelates 
are  apostles,  of  necessity  leads  to  the 
conclusion  that  prelates  have  the  gifts 
of  the  apostles,  and  that  to  the  conclu 
sion  that  submission  to  their  teaching 
and  jurisdiction,  is  essential  to  salva 
tion  ;  and  that  again,  to  the  conclusion 
that  religion  is  not  an  inward  state,  but 
an  external  relation.  These  are  not 
merely  the  logical,  but  the  historical 
sequences  of  the  theory  that  the  apos 
tolic  office  is  perpetual.  Wherever  that 
theory  has  prevailed,  it  has  led  to 
making  religion  ceremonial,  and  divorc 
ing  it  from  piety  and  morality.  We 
would  beg  those  who  love  Christ  more 
than  their  order,  and  those  who  believe 
in  evangelical  religion,  to  lay  this  con 
sideration  to  heart.  The  doctrine  of  a 
perpetual  apostleship  in  the  Church,  is 
not  a  mere  speculative  error,  but  one, 
to  the  last  degree,  destructive. 


60         WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM  ? 

We  cannot  pursue  this  subject  fur 
ther.  That  the  apostolic  office  is  tem 
porary,  is  a  plain  historical  fact.  The 
apostles,  the  twelve,  stand  out  just  as 
conspicuous  as  an  isolated  body  in  the 
history  of  the  Church,  without  prede 
cessors,  and  without  successors,  as 
Christ  himself  does.  They  disappear 
from  history.  The  title,  the  thing 
itself,  the  gifts,  the  functions,  all  ceased 
when  John,  the  last  of  the  twelve,  as 
cended  to  heaven. 

If  it  is  a  fearful  thing  to  put  the 
Pope  in  the  place  of  Christ,  and  to 
make  a  man  our  God ;  it  is  also  a  fear 
ful  thing  to  put  erring  men  in  the  place 
of  infallible  apostles,  and  make  faith  in 
their  teaching,  and  submission  to  their 
authority,  the  condition  of  grace  and 
salvation. 

From  this  awful  bondage,  brethren, 
we  are  free.  We  bow  to  the  authority 


WHAT  IS   PRESBYTERIANISM?         61 

of  Christ.  We  submit  to  the  infallible 
teachings  of  his  inspired  apostles;  but 
we  deny  that  the  infallible  is  continued 
in  the  fallible,  or  the  divine  in  the 
human. 

But  if  the  apostolic  office  was  tempo 
rary,  then  presbyters  are  the  highest 
permanent  officers  of  the  Church,  be 
cause,  as  is  conceded  by  nine-tenths, 
perhaps  by  ninety-nine  hundredths  of 
prelates,  the  Scriptures  make  no  men 
tion  of  any  permanent  officers  interme 
diate  between  the  apostles  and  the 
presbyter-bishops  of  the  New  Testa 
ment.  There  is  no  command  to  ap 
point  such  officers,  no  record  of  their 
appointment,  no  specification  of  their 
qualifications,  no  title  for  them,  either 
in  the  Scriptures  or  in  ecclesiastical 
history.  If  prelates  are  not  apostles, 
they  are  presbyters,  holding  their  pre- 
6 


62         WHAT   IS   PRESBTTERIANISM  ? 

eminence  by  human,  and  not  by  divine 
authority. 

III.  As  then  presbyters  are  all  of  the 
same  rank,  and  as  they  exercise  their 
power  in  the  government  of  the  Church, 
in  connection  with  the  people,  or  their 
representatives,  this  of  necessity  gives 
rise  to  Sessions  in  our  individual  con 
gregations,  and  to  Presbyteries,  Synods, 
and  Assemblies,  for  the  exercise  of 
more  extended  jurisdiction.  This  brings 
into  view  the  third  great  principle  of 
Presbyterianism,  the  government  of  the 
Church  by  judicatories  composed  of 
presbyters  and  elders,  &c.  This  takes 
for  granted  the  unity  of  the  Church  in 
opposition  to  the  theory  of  the  Inde 
pendents. 

The  Presbyterian  doctrine  on  this 
subject  is,  that  the  Church  is  one  in 
such  a  sense  that  a  smaller  part  is  sub 
ject  to  a  larger,  and  the  larger  to  the 


WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM?         63 

whole.  It  has  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one 
baptism.  The  principles  of  govern 
ment  laid  down  in  the  Scriptures  bind 
the  whole  Church.  The  terms  of  ad 
mission,  and  the  legitimate  grounds  of 
exclusion,  are  everywhere  the  same. 
The  same  qualifications  are  everywhere 
to  be  demanded  for  admission  to  the 
sacred  office,  and  the  same  grounds  for 
deposition.  Every  man  who  is  pro 
perly  received  as  a  member  of  a  par 
ticular  church,  becomes  a  member  of 
the  Church  universal ;  every  one  right 
fully  excluded  from  a  particular  church, 
is  excluded  from  the  whole  Church ; 
every  one  rightfully  ordained  to  the 
ministry  in  one  church,  is  a  minister 
of  the  universal  Church,  and  when 
rightfully  deposed  in  one,  he  ceases  to 
be  a  minister  in  any.  Hence,  while 
every  particular  church  has  a  right  to 
manage  its  own  affairs  and  administer 


64         WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM  ? 

its  own  discipline,  it  cannot  be  inde 
pendent  and  irresponsible  in  the  exer 
cise  of  that  right.  As  its  members  are 
members  of  the  Church  universal,  and 
those  whom  it  excommunicates  are, 
according  to  the  Scriptural  theory,  de 
livered  unto  Satan,  and  cut  off  from 
the  communion  of  the  saints,  the  acts 
of  a  particular  church  become  the  acts 
of  the  whole  Church,  and  therefore  the 
whole  has  the  right  to  see  that  they  are 
performed  according  to  the  law  of 
Christ.  Hence,  on  the  one  hand,  the 
right  of  appeal ;  and,  on  the  other,  the 
right  of  review  and  control. 

This  is  the  Presbyterian  theory  on 
this  subject;  that  it  is  the  scriptural 
doctrine  appears,  1.  From  the  nature 
of  the  Church.  The  Church  is  every 
where  represented  as  one.  It  is  one 
body,  one  family,  one  fold,  one  king 
dom.  It  is  one  because  pervaded  by 


WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANTSM  ?         65 

one  Spirit.  We  are  all  baptized  into 
one  Spirit  so  as  to  become,  says  the 
apostle,  one  body.  This  indwelling  of 
the  Spirit  which  thus  unites  all  the 
members  of  Christ's  body,  produces  not 
only  that  subjective  or  inward  union 
which  manifests  itself  in  sympathy  and 
affection,  in  unity  of  faith  and  love,  but 
also  outward  union  and  communion.  It 
leads  Christians  to  unite  for  the  pur 
poses  of  worship,  and  of  mutual  watch 
and  care.  It  requires  them  to  be  sub 
ject  one  to  another  in  the  fear  of  the 
Lord.  It  brings  them  all  into  subjec 
tion  to  the  word  of  God  as  the  standard 
of  faith  and  practice.  It  gives  them 
not  only  an  interest  in  each  other's  wel 
fare,  purity,  and  edification,  but  it  im 
poses  the  obligation  to  promote  these 
objects.  If  one  member  suffers,  all  suf 
fer  with  it ;  and  if  one  member  is  ho 
noured,  all  rejoice  with  it.  All  this  is 
6* 


66         WHAT   IS   PRESBTTERIANISM  ? 

true,  not  merely  of  those  frequenting 
the  same  place  of  worship,  but  of  the 
universal  body  of  believers.  So  that 
an  independent  church  is  as  much  a 
solecism  as  an  independent  Christian, 
or  as  an  independent  finger  of  the  hu 
man  body,  or  an  independent  branch 
of  a  tree.  If  the  Church  is  a  living 
body  united  to  the  same  head,  governed 
by  the  same  laws,  and  pervaded  by  the 
same  Spirit,  it  is  impossible  that  one 
part  should  be  independent  of  all  the 
rest. 

2.  All  the  reasons  which  require  the 
subjection  of  a  believer  to  the  brethren 
of  a  particular  church,  require  his  sub 
jection  to  all  his  brethren  in  the  Lord. 
The  ground  of  this  obligation  is  not  the 
church  covenant.  It  is  not  the  com 
pact  into  which  a  number  of  believers 
enter,  and  which  binds  only  those  who 
are  parties  to  it.  Church  power  has  a 


WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM  ?         67 

much  higher  source  than  the  consent 
of  the  governed.  The  Church  is  a  di 
vinely  constituted  society,  deriving  its 
power  from  its  charter.  Those  who 
join  it,  join  it  as  an  existing  society, 
and  a  society  existing  with  certain  pre 
rogatives  and  privileges,  which  they 
come  to  share,  and  not  to  bestow.  This 
divinely  constituted  society,  which  eve 
ry  believer  is  bound  to  join,  is  not  the 
local  and  limited  association  of  his  own 
neighbourhood,  but  the  universal  bro 
therhood  of  believers ;  and  therefore  all 
his  obligations  of  communion  and  obe 
dience  terminate  on  the  whole  Church. 
He  is  bound  to  obey  his  brethren,  not 
because  he  has  agreed  to  do  so,  but  be 
cause  they  are  his  brethren — because 
they  are  temples  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
enlightened,  sanctified,  and  guided  by 
Him.  It  is  impossible,  therefore,  to 
limit  the  obedience  of  a  Christian  to 


68         WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM? 

the  particular  congregation  of  which  he 
is  a  member,  or  to  make  one  such  con 
gregation  independent  of  all  others, 
without  utterly  destroying  the  very  na 
ture  of  the  Church,  and  tearing  asunder 
the  living  members  of  Christ's  body. 
If  this  attempt  should  be  fully  accom 
plished,  these  separate  churches  would 
as  certainly  bleed  to  death,  as  a  limb 
when  severed  from  the  body. 

3.  The  Church,  during  the  apostolic 
age,  did  not  consist  of  isolated,  indepen 
dent  congregations,  but  was  one  body, 
of  which  the  separate  churches  were 
constituent  members,  each  subject  to 
all  the  rest,  or  to  an  authority  which 
extended  over  all.  This  appears,  in 
the  first  place,  from  the  history  of  the 
origin  of  those  churches.  The  apostles 
were  commanded  to  remain  in  Jerusa 
lem  until  they  received  power  from  on 
high.  On  the  day  of  Pentecost  the 


WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM?         69 

promised  Spirit  was  poured  out,  and 
they  began  to  speak  as  the  Spirit  gave 
them  utterance.  Many  thousands  in 
that  city  were  added  to  the  Lord,  and 
they  continued  in  the  apostles'  doctrine 
and  fellowship,  and  in  breaking  of 
bread  and  prayer.  They  constituted 
the  Church  in  Jerusalem.  It  was  one 
not  only  spiritually,  but  externally, 
united  in  the  same  worship,  and  sub 
ject  to  the  same  rulers.  When  scat 
tered  abroad,  they  preached  the  word 
everywhere,  and  great  multitudes  were 
added  to  the  Church.  The  believers  in 
every  place  were  associated  in  separate, 
but  not  independent  churches,  for  they 
all  remained  subject  to  a  common  tri 
bunal. 

For,  secondly,  the  apostles  consti 
tuted  a  bond  of  union  to  the  whole  body 
of  believers.  There  is  not  the  slightest 
evidence  that  the  apostles  had  different 


70         WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM? 

dioceses.  Paul  wrote  with  full  autho 
rity  to  the  Church  in  Home  before  he 
had  ever  visited  the  imperial  city.  Pe 
ter  addressed  his  epistles  to  the  churches 
of  Pontus,  Cappadocia,  Asia,  and  Bithy- 
nia,  the  very  centre  of  Paul's  field  of 
labour.  That  the  apostles  exercised 
this  general  jurisdiction,  and  were  thus 
the  bond  of  external  union  to  the 
Church,  arose,  as  wre  have  seen,  from 
the  very  nature  of  their  office.  Having 
been  commissioned  to  found  and  orga 
nize  the  Church,  and  being  so  filled 
with  the  Spirit  as  to  render  them  infal 
lible,  their  word  was  law.  Their  inspi 
ration  necessarily  secured  this  universal 
authority.  We  accordingly  find  that 
they  everywhere  exercised  the  powrers 
not  only  of  teachers,  but  also  of  rulers. 
Paul  speaks  of  the  power  given  to  him 
for  edification;  of  the  things  which  he 
ordained  in  all  the  churches.  His  epis- 


WHAT  IS  PRESBYTERIANISM?         71 

ties  are  filled  with  such  orders,  which 
were  of  binding  authority  then  as  now. 
He  threatens  the  Corinthians  to  come 
to  them  with  a  rod;  he  cut  off  a  mem 
ber  of  their  church,  whom  they  had  ne 
glected  to  discipline;  and  he  delivered 
Hymeneus  and  Alexander  unto  Satan, 
that  they  might  learn  not  to  blaspheme. 
As  a  historical  fact,  therefore,  the  apos 
tolic  churches  were  not  independent 
congregations,  but  were  all  subject  to 
one  common  authority. 

In  the  third  place,  this  is  further  evi 
dent  from  the  Council  at  Jerusalem.  No 
thing  need  be  assumed  that  is  not  express 
ly  mentioned  in  the  record.  The  simple 
facts  of  the  case  are,  that  a  controversy 
having  arisen  in  the  church  at  Antioch, 
concerning  the  Mosaic  law,  instead  of 
settling  it  among  themselves  as  an  in 
dependent  body,  they  referred  the  case 
to  the  apostles  and  elders  at  Jerusalem, 


72         WHAT   IS   PRESBYTERIANISM? 

and  there  it  was  authoritatively  decided, 
not  for  that  church  only,  but  for  all 
others.  Paul,  therefore,  in  his  next 
missionary  journey,  as  he  "passed 
through  the  cities,  delivered  to  them," 
it  is  said,  "  the  decrees  for  to  keep, 
which  were  ordained  of  the  apostles 
and  elders  which  were  at  Jerusalem." 
Acts  xvi.  4.  It  matters  not  whether 
the  authority  of  that  Council  was  due 
to  the  inspiration  of  its  chief  members 
or  not.  It  is  enough  that  it  had  autho 
rity  over  the  whole  Church.  The  seve 
ral  congregations  were  not  independent, 
but  were  united  under  one  common  tri 
bunal. 

4th.  In  the  fourth  place,  we  may 
appeal  to  the  common  consciousness  of 
Christians,  as  manifested  in  the  whole 
history  of  the  Church.  Everything 
organic  has  what  may  be  called  a  nisus 
formativus;  an  inward  force,  by  which 


WHAT  IS  PRESBYTERIANISM?         73 

it  is  impelled  to  assume  the  form  suited 
to  its  nature.  This  inward  impulse 
may,  by  circumstances,  be  impeded  or 
misdirected,  so  that  the  normal  state  of 
a  plant  or  animal  may  never  be  attained. 
Still,  this  force  never  fails  to  manifest 
its  existence,  nor  the  state  to  which  it 
tends.  What  is  thus  true  in  nature,  is 
no  less  true  in  the  Church.  There  is 
nothing  more  conspicuous  in  her  his 
tory  than  the  law  by  which  believers 
are  impelled  to  express  their  inward 
unity  by  outward  union.  It  has  been 
manifested  in  all  ages,  and  under  all 
circumstances.  It  gave  rise  to  all  the 
early  councils.  It  determined  the  idea 
of  heresy  and  schism.  It  led  to  the 
exclusion  from  all  churches  of  those 
who,  for  the  denial  of  the  common 
faith,  were  excluded  from  any  one,  and 
who  refused  to  acknowledge  their  sub 
jection  to  the  Church  as  a  whole.  This 

7 


74         WHAT  IS  PRESBYTERIANISM? 

feeling  was  clearly  exhibited  at  the  time 
of  the  Keformation.  The  churches  then 
formed,  ran  together  as  naturally  as 
drops  of  quicksilver;  and  when  this 
union  was  prevented  by  internal  or  ex 
ternal  circumstances,  it  was  deplored 
as  a  great  evil.  It  may  do  for  men  of 
the  world  to  attribute  this  remarkable 
characteristic  in  the  history  of  the 
Church,  to  the  love  of  power,  or  to 
some  other  unworthy  source.  But  it  is 
not  thus  to  be  accounted  for.  It  is  a 
law  of  the  Spirit.  If  what  all  men  do, 
is  to  be  referred  to  some  abiding  prin 
ciple  of  human  nature ;  what  all  Chris 
tians  do,  must  be  referred  to  something 
which  belongs  to  them  as  Christians. 

So  deeply  seated  is  this  conviction 
that  outward  union  and  mutual  subjec 
tion  is  the  normal  state  of  the  Church, 
that  it  manifests  itself  in  those  whose 
theory  leads  them  to  deny  and  resist 


WHAT  IS  PRESBYTERIANISM?         75 

it.  Their  Consociations,  Associations, 
and  Advisory  Councils,  are  so  many 
devices  to  satisfy  an  inward  craving, 
and  to  prevent  the  dissolution  to  which 
it  is  felt  that  absolute  Independency 
must  inevitably  lead. 

That  then,  the  Church  is  one,  in  the- 
sense  that  a  smaller  part  should  be 
subject  to  a  larger,  and  a  larger  to  the 
whole,  is  evident.  1.  From  its  nature 
as  being  one  kingdom,  one  family,  one 
body,  having  one  head,  one  faith,  one 
written  constitution,  and  actuated  by 
one  Spirit ;  2d.  From  the  command  of 
Christ  that  we  should  obey  our  breth 
ren,  not  because  they  live  near  to  us; 
not  because  we  have  covenanted  to 
obey  them;  but  because  they  are  our 
brethren,  the  temples  and  organs  of  the 
Holy  Ghost;  3.  From  the  fact  that 
during  the  apostolic  age  the  churches 
were  not  independent  bodies,  but  sub- 


76         WHAT   IS  PRESBYTERIANISM  ? 

ject  in  all  matters  of  doctrine,  order, 
and  discipline,  to  a  common  tribunal ; 
and  4.  Because  the  whole  history  of 
the  Church  proves  that  this  union  and 
mutual  subjection  is  the  normal  state 
of  the  Church  towards  which  it  strives 
by  an  inward  law  of  its  being.  If  it  is 
necessary  that  one  Christian  should  be 
subject  to  other  Christians ;  it  is  no 
less  necessary  that  one  church  should 
be  subject  in  the  same  spirit,  to  the 
same  extent,  and  on  the  same  grounds, 
to  other  churches. 

We  have  now  completed  our  exposi 
tion  of  Presbyterianism.  It  must  strike 
every  one  that  it  is  no  device  of  man. 
It  is  not  an  external  frame-work,  hav 
ing  no  connection  with  the  inward  life 
of  the  Church.  It  is  a  real  growth.  It 
is  the  outward  expression  of  the  inward 
law  of  the  Church's  being.  If  we  teach 
that  the  people  should  have  a  substan- 


WHAT  IS  PRESBYTERIANISM?          77 

tive  part  in  the  government  of  the 
Church,  it  is  not  merely  because  we 
deem  it  healthful  and  expedient,  but 
because  the  Holy  Ghost  dwells  in  the 
people  of  God,  and  gives  the  ability 
and  confers  the  right  to  govern.  If  we 
teach  that  presbyters  are  the  highest 
permanent  officers  of  the  Church,  it  is 
because  those  gifts  by  which  the  apos 
tles  and  prophets  were  raised  above 
presbyters,  have,  in  fact,  ceased.  If  we 
teach  that  the  separate  congregations 
of  believers  are  not  independent,  it  is 
because  the  Church  is,  in  fact,  one 
body,  all  the  parts  of  which  are  mu 
tually  dependent. 

If  this  is  so — if  there  is  an  outward 
form  of  the  Church  which  corresponds 
with  its  inward  life,  a  form  which  is 
the  natural  expression  and  product  of 
that  life,  then  that  form  must  be  most 

conducive  to  its  progress  and  develop- 

7* 


78         WHAT  IS  PRESBTTERIANISM? 

ment.  Men  may,  by  art,  force  a  tree 
to  grow  in  any  fantastic  shape  a  per 
verted  taste  may  choose.  But  it  is  at 
the  sacrifice  of  its  vigour  and  produc 
tiveness.  To  reach  its  perfection,  it 
must  be  left  to  unfold  itself  according 
to  the  law  of  its  nature.  It  is  so  with 
the  Church.  If  the  people  possess  the 
gifts  and  graces  which  qualify  and  en 
title  them  to  take  part  in  the  govern 
ment,  then  the  exercise  of  that  right 
tends  to  the  development  of  those  gifts 
and  graces ;  and  the  denial  of  the  right 
tends  to  their  depression.  In  all  the 
forms  of  despotism,  whether  civil  or 
ecclesiastical,  the  people  are  degraded ; 
and  in  all  forms  of  scriptural  liberty, 
they  are  proportionably  elevated.  Every 
system  which  demands  intelligence 
tends  to  produce  it.  Every  man  feels 
that  it  is  not  only  one  of  the  greatest 
advantages  of  our  republican  institu- 


WHAT  IS  PRESBYTERIANISM?         79 

tions  that  they  tend  to  the  education 
and  elevation  of  the  people,  but  that 
their  successful  operation,  demanding 
popular  intelligence  and  virtue,  renders 
it  necessary  that  constant  exertion 
should  be  directed  to  the  attainment  of 
that  end.  As  republican  institutions 
cannot  exist  among  the  ignorant  and 
vicious,  so  Presbyterianism  must  find 
the  people  enlightened  and  virtuous,  or 
make  them  so. 

It  is  the  combination  of  the  princi 
ples  of  liberty  and  order  in  the  Presby 
terian  system,  the  union  of  the  rights 
of  the  people  with  subjection  to  legiti 
mate  authority,  that  has  made  it  the 
parent  and  guardian  of  civil  liberty  in 
every  part  of  the  world.  This,  how 
ever,  is  merely  an  incidental  advantage. 
The  Church  organization  has  higher 
aims.  It  is  designed  for  the  extension 
and  establishment  of  the  gospel,  and  for 


80         WHAT  IS  PRESBYTERIANISM  ? 

the  edification  of  the  body  of  Christ, 
till  we  all  come  to  the  unity  of  the 
faith  and  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God ; 
and  that  polity  must  be  best  adapted  to 
this  end,  which  is  most  congenial  with 
the  inward  nature  of  the  Church.  It 
is  on  this  ground  we  rest  our  preference 
for  Presbyterianism.  We  do  not  regard 
it  as  a  skilful  product  of  human  wisdom ; 
but  as  a  divine  institution,  founded  on 
the  word  of  God,  and  as  the  genuine 
product  of  the  inward  life  of  the  Church. 


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